Inner Darkness
by RonninBlade
Summary: my own version of the ultimate enemy, except with an entirely different storyline. DxS fluff sewn throughout.
1. Chapter 1

Our story takes place in the second quarter of Danny's sophomore year. A significant bit of ghost hunting has been done, Valerie has been somewhat accepted into the group, though she is still hunting Danny, and Danny and Sam still haven't expressed their feelings for each other. Well, on to the story.

In the world of Freudian psychology, to be as simplistic as possible, there are two parts to the human psyche, along with a relative barrier in between them. These parts consist of the ego; the conscious part of the mind. It deals with empathy, sympathy, and the principles of right and wrong. And the other, the id, which is the more primitive aspect of the brain. It deals primarily in desire and realization, and none of the pieces in between. It's primary purpose: self preservation and reproduction. In between these two parts and the real world, lies the super ego, the filter of conscious thought. In humankind, this barrier that prevents the id from surfacing is thick enough to hold against almost any trying situation one can think of, the exceptions being torture and starvation in the extreme. That is in a human. In others, the two sides, however more defined, have a rather thin barrier in between them.

The sky was overcast, as he stood at her grave. What had it been? Ten years? Some part of himself still drew him here. He never felt anything coming here, no more than he had when he had killed the others. His whole family, his last remaining best friend, and the ghost hunter as well. But, he supposed, that had been afterwards. This had been the first death. The first, and the last part of his human life. Even though some part of him was still mortal, it could in no way be considered human.

Ah, well, enough standing around. As usual, he found himself bored, he decided to abandon the hopes of finding some sad sentiment in coming to the grave of his best friend, Samantha Manson, abandon the world he had destroyed, and go perform the task he could not call his favorite pastime: it was merely the only thing left to do, since he had already caused Armageddon. He would destroy the ghost zone. He had already exceeded the borders of his known realm in the ghost zone, decimating everything in his path, and he was sure he would reach the borders of the realm soon. What then? He didn't know. As far as he could tell, destroying things was the only thing left remotely akin to pleasure, so he might as well do it, even if when he finished there would be nothing left. He'd cross that bridge when he got there. Being as powerful as he was, he had no trouble tearing open his own hole into the ghost zone. He went in, and blasted a few things. Hours passed, or maybe days, until finally, he found something, for the first time in his life as the bringer of Armageddon, Daniel phantom found something that sparked his interest. 

It was a usual day at Casper high school. Dash pushed him into a locker, paulina came up to him for no other reason than to ask about the ghost boy, Valerie blasted him with an ecto-cannon, then ate lunch with him, Sam, and tucker later that day, and the box ghost consumed still more of his time. Time that he was sure should go into studying, not that he really believed he would do that even if he had all the time in the world. As he sat in English class, reading macbeth, and the play was quite possibly more boring than lancer's lectures. Today, however, they were studying the emotional regression of macbeth through his killings Freudian style.

"Thusly, macbeth has allowed his id to overtake the conscience that is the ego, and let his more primitive emotions run free, and, in doing so, has undergone an emotional regression."

Blah, blah, blah. He had a hard enough time listening to lancer when could understand what he said, and an even harder time when he didn't want to listen. Doing both at the same time was hell in a handbag. Finally, the bell rang, and lancer, looking rather disappointed that he didn't have time to finish his lecture, dismissed them. He had been lucky, this year. Almost all of his classes were with Sam and tucker. This was one of those classes. The three friends waited for the rest of the class to file out, before leaving together. It was the usual thing. He and sam, tucker in between them, talking about life as usual, which, for any other three people, would have been considered quite unusual. These three spent the largest part of their waking hours fighting ghosts.

In a quick exchange, Valerie came up, said hello, and dragged tucker off to help with some "computer lessons," likely more for the purpose of bettering her ability to interface with her ghost hunting tech, than anything else. Although Sam seemed to have a theory that she actually liked hanging out with tucker, on a 1 on 1 basis.

As they walked off, Sam asked "so, what do you think lancer will be torturing us with next?"

"I dunno, and I'm really not caring. I've got a massive headache from all of this id and ego stuff. I can only hope he doesn't decide to do any more psychology lessons in class."

"He is. I read the curriculum sheet he gave us for this quarter. We're doing Romeo and Juliet next, and studying the fine lines between infatuation, and love. Danny? Hello, earth to Danny?"

"Huh?"

"You spaced out, for a second, there."

"Oh."

He had done more than just space out. The two words had struck a chord within him, and the images of two people who were represented by love and infatuation. infatuation was an obvious one; Paulina, the source of all infatuated teen males schoolwide. The other, however, was quite unexpected. The representation of love that had popped mysteriously into his brain, was none other than the girl standing to his right.

'What am I thinking!' he wondered. 'She's my best friend!'

'Although...' another voice popped up, the stronger, more confident part of himself he thought of as his phantom side, 'You've kissed- What, three times? And you can't honestly say you weren't perfectly happy doing it.'

'But those were all fakeout makeouts, and it was twice'

'Hah! if you, who can't remember what you had for lunch less than an hour ago, and can remember the exact number of times - '

"DANNY!" yelled Sam.

"I can so remember what I had for lunch today!" Sam looked at him quizzically, "I was just talking to myself again, wasn't I?"

Sam nodded.

"I didn't say anything embarrassing, did I?" she shook her head. He passed his hand over his brow, and sighed.

The day was uneventful for the most part. Tucker rejoined them for the walk back home, when Danny's ghost sense went off in the most peculiar way. He not only saw his breath, but felt the icy cold of death so strong in his lungs, he had the wind knocked out of him.

"Danny!" Sam and tucker said in unison. He collapsed to the ground, holding his chest. A few seconds later, it passed, and he regained his breath.

"I'm okay, you guys, but that definitely gave me a scare."

"I wouldn't consider yourself so lucky. Sam looked about ready to give mouth to mouth. All you'd have had to do was wait three more sec-OW!" Sam swatted tucker in the back of the head, before turning away, blushing. Though she turned to hide her emotions, the object of her desires, also blushing, did not fail to notice the color in her cheeks.  
Lost in teenage hormones, the war being waged in Danny's head went something like this: 'God, she's beautiful like that.'

'What? And she's not beautiful twenty four hours a day? Where's your devotion, man!'

'Hold on just a second, here! She's my best friend - '

'You lost that argument with yourself, already. Remember?'

'Well never mind, anyway. The real point being, what if she doesn't feel the same way?' 

'And what exact way would that be?'

While all of this went on in his head, he failed to take the time to recognize that Sam seemed to be doing more hiding the truth then blushing at the statement's absurdity. To be blunt, she did feel the same way, and was just as terrified to admit it as he was.

'What if he doesn't want to be more than friends? What if he really is stuck on paulina? ("that bitch" being her exact thoughts on the matter) What happens if I tell him, and it ruins our friendship?'

While the two were lost in their own thoughts for a full two minutes, tucker looked at them curiously, before interrupting just as they were about to respectively decide the issue within themselves.

"So, if you two lovebirds are done having a telepathic conversation, lets-"

"Do you mind? We're trying to have a conversation here, and WE'RE NOT LOVEBIRDS!" The two said in unison.

Tucker, thoroughly disturbed, avoided them the rest of the way to his house, and disappeared inside before Sam could invite him and Danny to her house for a movie. That left just her and Danny.

"So. I was wondering, do you want to hang out later tonight? I was planning to invite tucker, but since he bolted, it looks like it will be just the two of us," they both knew full well she could just call tucker and ask him, but this way suited them both just fine, really.

As Danny was about to respond, his ghost sense went off, followed by the sound of a voice saying "FEAR ME! I am the BOX GHOST!"

He sighed, told her he'd be right back, and went ghost. He was indeed back within a minute, when he got a rather daring idea (really, it wasn't his idea, it was really the fact that he'd caught a scene of "superman", with Christopher Reeves- now there was a dead guy he might actually like meeting- thought that kind of flying was the type of thing he'd like to do with Sam and couldn't get the idea out of his head.) Being still in ghost mode, he decided to give it a try before his confidence left him.

He asked, "Hey, you wanna go flying? It'll probably make the trip home faster, and it's starting to get darker and colder earlier, so we should probably get you there before we catch cold walking."

He noticed that he slurred up the last part of the statement in mumbling, not to mention that this was a totally bogus train of thought. They had an Indian summer this particular November, it being close to 70 degrees, and it was three thirty in the afternoon, but Sam nodded anyway. He swept her up, and they were off.

Meanwhile, from the shadowy window into the past, the darker manifestation that was Danny's future watched them go with what might have been nostalgia, if it were an emotion he was capable of. As he watched, he compiled his thoughts: His only remaining need was that of self preservation. Reliving that day vicariously through his younger self made him remember lancer's lecture on the psyche, and he supposed that though he was now entirely id, he was id without purpose, and had therefore become numb to the world. Now, as he saw his prior self, and, more than anything else, Sam, he was reborn. He felt things once more. The most prevalent feeling - hatred. Sam was the cause of his pain, and, for that, she would die again. He would preserve his existence, for that was all he had left. As for the Danny of his past, he had totally separated his existence from that Dannys in all but the smallest of ways - if Danny died, so would he - and he decided that the Danny of his past should pay double, partly for being so happy, partly for allowing himself to become the dark future Danny. Yes, he would make them both suffer, and then, Sam would die, and Danny would become darkness incarnate. He thought of jumping into the portal now, but decided to wait, "Now is not the time. Soon, though." 

Having flown many times before with Danny, the fear in it was pretty much gone, but she held on tight simply for the sake of the closeness it allowed them. As time went on, her grip loosened, and then, to her surprise, Danny let go of her altogether. She screamed, and plummeted. He came in beside her, and caught her hand, his momentum propelling them both forward, she opened her eyes slowly when she was sure the oddly warm cold of Danny's ghost hand wasn't just the delusion of someone who had just plummeted to their death, and was immediately caught up in the exhilaration of it all. They were hundreds of feet up, the whole "getting home" thing completely forgotten, soaring over the clouds, with a beautiful view of amity park at sunset.

"Danny, it's beautiful!" she turned to look at him, expecting to see him focused on the direction they were going. Instead, she found herself lost in his beautiful ice blue eyes.

'Ice blue - wait a sec!'

"Danny!" as they began to plummet out of the clouds again, he quickly remembered himself, and changed back to ghost mode. He was so embarrassed and apologetic that as he was apologizing and promising to take her home now, he almost crashed into a billboard. He came to a short stop, and pulled Sam up next to him. The billboard had a badly drawn picture of Danny in ghost mode, with a red chaos symbol around it. Under the picture, in bold letters, it said "Danny phantom OR Invisobill - menace either way! Brought to you by the amity park committee against falsely heroic ghost entities (APCAFHGE)"

Sam shook her head "oh, Danny." she hesitated a moment, and put a hand on his shoulder. 

He simply stood there. For a moment, he saw within himself, that darkness that lies within all people. He was good, right? Even his ghost half sought only to do justice and promote peace.

"How is it that, when I'm the good guy, and when 64 Percent of this town think I'm the good guy, that the other 36 percent have that much power? What if..." he looked over at her, a profound sadness in his eyes, "What if, some how, maybe they're right?" tears welled up in his eyes.

"What if they're right?"

She held him, but said nothing. Over the past year, Danny had saved many people, but, during the summer, he had prevented an accident with a drunk driver. In the instant he saved the other cars, by making the drunks car intangible, he had a flash of what seemed to be memory. It was through the eyes of a small animal, that he saw the oncoming car. He knew where to go, and flew off as soon as everyone involved with the drunk was safe. He was too late though. As he made it to the scene, he saw with sadness the small dog, still alive, but beyond all aid. Sam, who had been with him at the time, (tucker was visiting relatives) recalled the sadness in him, and then, the pain, as yet more visions washed over him. As he explained it later, the power, which he called "the touch", enabled him to get a prescient vision of living creatures, jut prior to traumatic death. The visions came in groups, and were uncontrollable. For a full week, he was tortured. Near the end, he nearly went mad. Sam stuck by him the whole time, but she could do nothing. The power made him feel helpless. After the first week, Danny disappeared for a full two days. When he returned, he had no excuse, yet he only nodded when his parents scolded and grounded him. He snuck out in ghost mode that night, and gave her an explanation:

'Tink' Sam rolled over in her sleep, covering her ears with her pillow. It had taken her until just before midnight to fall asleep, though she had had no sleep up until that night; at least not since Danny disappeared.

'tink.tink, tink, tink' she finally woke and went to her balcony. When she saw Danny standing there, she ran to him, and crushed him in an embrace.

"Danny!" he went out of ghost mode, and he immediately grew weak.

His parents had had no idea where he went, but he still looked healthy, so why should they guess that he had been in ghost mode for two days, and hadn't eaten or slept. She brought him to her bed, and went to get some water.

He took her hand, and said "No. stay, please."

Though he was far from as mad and pained as he had been before he left, the sadness of that week was still there, as well as fear, and an immense weariness. She stayed, and he told her about where he had been.

"There is a forest east of here. I was afraid I would hurt someone, so I took solace there, and tried to hone the touch, so I could control it. I stayed in ghost mode the entire time. The touch sharpened my senses, and expanded my strength, and my willpower, but it took a heavy toll. I saw... I saw within myself. I saw the darkness there. Neither my ghost half, nor my human half is truly evil, but there is something. Deeper, in me, that is," the tears were there. It was the first time she'd seen him cry, since he was ten, and his last remaining grandfather died of lung cancer. she took him into her arms, and held him as he cried.

As she did now, at the billboard. He had since refined the power further, so that it for the most part only acted on human life, and only within the area of Amity Park.

"I'm afraid, Sam. What if I hurt someone? What if that someone... what if its you? I don't think I could live after that."

Astonished by the sentiment in this statement, she held her silence, unable to say anything.

'Does that mean he cares for me?'

They reached Sam's house in silence. When Danny landed on her balcony, he carefully placed Sam down, and stepped away. When their eyes met, there was no more sadness there. Only a nervous tension that passed equally between both of them. 

"Sam."

In a single instant before what occurred next, several things happened. The blue rings surrounded him, and he became human, then, deep in his (endless, drown-in-em beautiful blue eyes would be Sam's thoughts at the time) ice blue eyes, there sparked a warmth and beauty that Sam could not place. She had never seen it there within him before. She normally lost herself in those eyes, and, although she certainly found his ghost eyes strikingly attractive, it was these crystalline blue orbs that she first fell in - what? Was she about to say "fell in love with?" Well, it didn't matter much now. He was now walking towards her, that spark in his eyes, (somewhere, deep down, she thought she knew what that spark was, and somewhere even deeper, she did know what it was) and brought her into an embrace.

"Sam. thank you. you've always been there for me. More than anyone - even Tucker. When I'm down and out, its you who helps me bounce back. That's why I came to you. That night, after I got the touch. You mean the world to me. So thank you."

She stood there in his embrace, basking in the warm feeling he gave off. She simply closed her eyes and stood there, holding him. He let her. This was bliss for him. Although he too was unsure of his feelings, he wanted so much for her to stay there, in his arms, forever. When finally, she opened her eyes, and saw him holding his breath, she knew he was hiding the fact that he felt a ghost nearby.

She let go of him, stood back, and said "Go do your job."

He nodded, thankful that she understood him, and flew off. Less than a second later, he was back, "By the way, before I go, I'd love to hang out tomorrow, if the offer's still open?"

"Sure!" she said, perhaps too enthusiastically, but, if he realized this, he showed no sign. He flew off. As he did battle with the large coyote type ghost ("what, no roadrunner?" he had asked) his heart soared.


	2. Chapter 2

When Danny arrived at his house, he showered and changed. This was nothing unusual – he had developed this as his after school routine, and, in the midst of his chaotic life, his routine helped to steady him, and kept him that much saner. What was unusual was the fact that he spent a full seven minutes – a record for him – in front of the mirror making sure he looked good, and, he had put on cologne, which was something he never did. He then promptly washed the stuff off, and came up with another Superman flying type idea, though this one was rather more random, or at least he thought so. His parents left earlier that day for a ghost hunting convention, and wouldn't be back all weekend, and Jazz was out for a shopping trip with a friend of hers. He called Sam, and said "Hey, Sam? Change of plans."

"Oh, okay then." She sounded quite disappointed.

"No, it's nothing like that. My parents aren't home, and I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out at my house…" A pause, then, the clincher, "for dinner. I'm cooking Chinese."

Sam giggled a bit on the line. "Danny, you're cooking?"

"Yeah. What's so odd about that?"

Sam, thinking he was likely ordering takeout, then faking cooking – wait a minute, why would he do that? To impress her? Nah. "Yeah, okay Danny. I'll see you there."

"Kay. Oh, and Sam? There's no reason we have to go back on our usual plans, just because Tucker's not here and we're hanging at my house. We can probably catch a movie afterwards. Whatya think?"

"Fine by me. I'll be over around six."

"Cool. Bye."

"Bye."

His heart leapt, as he leapt into action preparing the perfect dinner. Okay, perfect dinner, followed up by a movie, and, he was even planning to pay for their tickets – a thing which the broke teenager would never try. What was it that made him want this time with her to be special – unique? Well, never mind. He would do this whether or not his mind had any idea what he was doing.

Dan continued to observe his younger self. His brain, no longer working with a conscience, this left more room in his mind for cold calculation, and, as he went over the events that would lead up to the one he was observing becoming him, he realized he would have to be precise in his action, or he would re-alter history, and destroy himself. Therefore, he continued his waiting. The right moment was coming. He would just wait it out until then.

The moment was coming. As Danny finished up cutting the garlic and ginger He always added those two last, so that would be the smell that remained on him, when the others were washed off – this is a bit obsessive, he supposes, but the habit just stuck, and now, he couldn't not put the garlic and ginger in last. Sam had noted once after Home Ec. in middle school that she liked the smell the two produced, and Danny had not forgotten. He had taken up cooking in the eighth grade, after a full year of denying the fact that it was one of those things he liked to do best. He had a natural talent for it, and in the five times he had cooked the more complex meal recipes he kept in the cookbook he had – he kept it on the bottom of an old box of comic books he no longer read, so no-one would find it. He was a little paranoid, he guessed, but as long as the paranoia was just between him and him, he didn't mind – he had never once messed up the recipe. Tonight was the best dish he could find, and it was no exception – he pulled it off as flawlessly as an untrained-home-cooker-person could. Sam came in just as he was throwing the garlic in. She was a full 30 minutes early, not that he wasn't happy to see her. He smiled and went out to greet her. She was surprised to see that he was actually cooking dinner. And, to top that off, it smelled delightful.

She said as much. "It smells delightful."

Danny, slightly surprised by her appearance, which, though there was little different about it, seemed to dazzle him anyway, nodded, smiled dumbly, and said nothing.

"Danny? Anybody in there?"

"Huh? Oh, right. The food will be ready in a minute. It was a surprisingly quick recipe. You, uh, look really good."

She started to blush, then realized how absurd this was – she was wearing the exact same outfit she had when he had flown home. Well, not exactly the same. She had also showered and changed, and this was a new outfit, it was just a habit of hers to wear her favorite outfit when she was around Danny. Although he never said anything, out of fear of saying something stupid, he never failed to notice. At the time that he had appeared to space happily into another world, he was actually thinking back on all the wonderful times he spent with Sam. He supposed it was a combination of the realization that he could die at any time, coming from the mastery of the touch, and the fact that he was completely dazzled by her today. As to the latter, he had no particular reasoning, but he liked being dazzled by her anyway. As he stood before her, she managed to also look back over the last year of growth and change between them. Danny had gotten taller, his face elongated a bit, angled a bit more towards manhood than when he had become half ghost the year prior. His thin and gawky teenage body had gotten somewhat stronger, with the help of his ghost fighting. He had abandoned the red and white tee for a red tee shirt, and an unbuttoned white button-down over it. Okay, so he hadn't changed much in the clothing style end of things, but, what was that smell on him? Was it cologne? No, it couldn't be. He hated the stuff, and it smelled more like what he was cooking – mainly garlic and ginger. She liked that smell a lot. It just seemed to fit with him.

As for her, she wore what she usually did these days. Her usual black and purple shirt, a purple choker, and her normal makeup combination. She had also grown a bit, and although she was not Paulina ('Thank god', she thinks each night, looking in the mirror, 'and yet, Paulina holds Danny's eye, and I… what the hell am I thinking this stuff for again!'), she had an attractive figure, and she had let her hair grow. It was now shoulder length, but she still kept the ponytail, in an emerald scrunchy that no longer matched her outfit, and she had no idea why she kept it, although deep down, she really did, just as she knew why she kept an ice blue pendant on the silver chain Danny had gotten her for her last birthday (the chain was all he could afford at the time, being broke as he was, and unable to get a job that he wouldn't lose in five seconds because of ghost hunting incidents. Engraved on it was a single word. "Forever". He said it was because he didn't have enough cash to buy the word "friends", but she felt that the necklace as it was held an even greater sentiment for her, and had given him a hug.), both the necklace and the scrunchy matched his eyes. Even deeper in her subconscious, she knew that though this seemed a bit obsessive, she knew why she kept the pendant hidden by her breast, close to her heart. That was the part of him she cared for most. That shy, kind of clumsy Danny Fenton. The other half was an addition, an augmentation that only served to make the other even better. As to the rest of Sam's outfit, there was a pair of tight fit dark blue jeans, her usual knee high boots, on her arms, several pairs of purple bracelets, and these thingies that Danny could never remember the name of. They were black, like her shirt, went slightly higher than elbow length, and ended slightly below her wrist. Danny was happy, as always, to see that she was wearing the chain he had got her last year. And, with his keen sense of smell, he detected a faint sense of lilacs, a smell that suited her perfectly. To be honest, his comment about her looking good was an outright lie on his part. To him, she looked drop dead gorgeous. After they were done with using their peripheral vision to look each other over, as Danny finished cooking the meal, they sat down. Although the meal was amazingly fancy, Danny, in a subconscious effort to quell the feeling that this was a date, he had set the table simply, bowls, forks, knives, and plastic cups.

"If you want, Sam, I'll explain to you the ingredients as we go along." He said, blushing slightly, but proud of his achievement. As they ate, he explained how he had sautéed lotus root, lily buds, and dried mushrooms, with chopped garlic and ginger, in extra virgin olive oil (the olive oil and the garlic and ginger made the flavor, in his opinion) he soaked the bean thread, and that was served cold under it.

"Well, it's one of the best home cooked meals I've ever had. When did you learn to cook?"

He blushed, and said, "Well, you kind of told me in the eighth grade that I'd look good in an apron, and, I guess the idea stuck."

They both burst out laughing, even though they knew he had spoken the truth. They spent the rest of the night laughing and talking, joking about things, and simply enjoying each other's company. They totally lost track of time, and it was 10:30 before they realized they had totally missed the chance to go see a movie, and get back in time for their non-existent curfews. Danny decided to walk to Sam home, just in case of ghost attacks. Despite his ability to easily dispose of such minimal threats, he prayed there would be no box ghost this night. As they strolled down the sidewalk, passing between the light and shadow of the lampposts, the moon full, the night so clear that the stars shone almost as bright as day themselves, they both realized something their hearts had known all along. They cared for each other, and in a way that went far deeper than friendship. The joint thought of the moment being 'only one hurdle left, then.' That hurdle being the other's feelings. Neither would risk their losing the friendship they had for the sake of something greater. It was too great a chance, that the other would not feel the same way, and that they would forever be uncomfortable around each other – their fellowship broken.

When they reached Sam's house, Danny, riding on the feeling that he was immortal as long as he was around her, caught her up bridal style, went ghost, and flew her to her balcony. Surprised at first, and then content with being in his arms, Sam let him do so. She knew this was no daring, dangerous new Danny surfacing. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and she knew he was just as nervous and timid as ever, he was just going with the feel of the night. When he put her down, so did she. Leaning forward on the railings and standing on her toes to reach his levitating figure, she kissed him lightly on the cheek.

"Thanks, Danny. This was a wonderful…" a slight pause. What was it then? A date?

"…dinner."

He grinned boyishly, said goodnight, and then flew off, only to reappear moments later back where he had left from.

"Hey, Sam?"

"Hmm?" She was tired and stifled a yawn.

"You think, maybe, we could do this again, maybe later this weekend? You know, without Tucker?" The words he had been looking for were "just the two of us", not "without Tucker" but the former carried far too much of a hint of where they were going with this for his comfort, so he stuck with the latter. She smiled, that wonderful shy smile that was at times the only thing Danny believed was real, in this fantasy world in which he lived. As beautiful as that smile was, it was just surreal enough to be totally real.

"Sure." She said.

"Kay. See ya, then."

"Bye."

They waved and he flew off. As soon as he was out of eye and earshot, Danny flew as high and as fast as he could, into the clouds, and gave a laugh, and a cry of elation. As Sam collapsed on her bed at the same moment, she too gave a laugh, and a sigh of content, yet ecstatic happiness.

Within the dark observer, a silent battle was waged. The other emotions he had were reawakening. The first to crawl up from the depths – lust. With it came its brother, jealousy, and it was relatively clear they were both here to stay. This posed a problem. In order for the Danny before to become the Danny after, Sam had to die, and, on top of that, the jealousy could cause Dark Danny to do something irrational, and alter the past in a way that would destroy him. Well, never mind the small things. He would deal with his former self and destroy Sam later. Now, he had an appointment with another hybrid. This one just happened to possess a weapon of destructive power that would be exactly what he would need to complete his plan. He focused on his destination in the past, saw the portal change direction, and stepped through.

As Vlad Masters, AKA Vlad Plasmius made some final adjustments to his nether-vortex generator, a dark figure stepped into his lair.

"Vlad Plasmius!"

The malevolent, if not evil half ghost was startled from his work on the minute circuitry. He turned, and never made it the full 180 degrees to turn around, before true evil grasped him by the throat, and hoisted him off the ground.

The entity grinned, and said, "Hello, Plasmius."

To Vlad, the resemblance to another halfa was quite obvious. No matter how different this being was, it _was_ Danny Phantom. His face bore Danny's features, his hair; the same shock of flyaway, perpetually caught in the windswept sideways position, if grown down to his shoulders and gone dark gray from its usual white. Even his costume, though changed some, a small part between shoulders and elbows white, with black elbow length gloves, his lower torso white to the left and right, his abdominal muscles black, which connected with the black of the chest of his uniform. And, of course, the trademark "D" of his uniform (leave it to Vlad to notice the most obvious sign last). His character, however, was far from the naïve boy of fifteen that Plasmius was perpetually at rivalry with. From the face of this dark manifestation, there poured a hatred, malice, and evil unparalleled. And yet, the face held no direct malevolence. It was, indeed Danny's face. The evil in his features was the kind that could easily be masked by a compassion that was once true, but no longer. In fact, the only true way to see through the features of that face, preserved by the lack of emotion in it to an indeterminable age, to the true evil below, would be to look in the eyes. In other worlds than these, they would be called bullshooter's eyes. Cold, blue, emotionless. However, the eyes of one in those other worlds that wears eyes like these could not parallel the emptiness in this Danny's icy silver glare. It was by these eyes that Vlad was temporarily paralyzed. Even in the long years since he had become half ghost, he had never encountered such a chill sensation, as when his ghost sense sent an icy blast through his lungs. He found himself unable to breathe for several seconds, and when he finally did speak, it was with a sputtering cough.

"Hello 'cough!' Danny. What brings you to my humble home?"

"You have something I want, old man."

Vlad could tell he would not be able to free himself from this ghost's grip, so he decided he would have to play the frightened old man, if he were to get free enough to escape this Danny.

"Very well, Daniel. What is it I can do for you?" He was sure to let the fear quiver slightly in his voice, and Danny seemed to fall for it – his grip loosened, and Vlad had just enough breathing room to send an ectoplasm blast at the machine behind him. The machine, however inactive, swung towards them both. Vlad, being lower down, was unharmed when the cannon barrel swung and hit dark Danny bluntly in the head. The dark future being was knocked back, and relinquished his grip on Vlad altogether. Plasmius wasted no time in flying to the controls, finishing some rough modifications, and blasting dark Danny into the next dimension. When the smoke cleared, there Danny stood, still in this world. Vlad gasped, and stumbled back. Dark Danny (lets call him Dan from now on) held up his diminished arms, which were decimated from the forearm down. They regenerated with a look, and Daniel started forward.

"H-how?"

"That machine works to kill humans – and send ghosts into the abyss of the nether. I am neither human, nor ghost any longer, at least not in any comprehensible manner. As for your part in this, you have done it. I should kill you now, but for the idea that it might affect how the future – my present time – turns out. Now that I know the machine is functional, I will take my leave. I will return for it soon enough."

After a moment's pause, Daniel turned to leave, and Vlad found his voice.

"I could destroy it, you know! Then your future would be gone forever!"

Daniel turned, and smiled terribly. "You won't." And he was right. How could Vlad destroy his greatest accomplishment? When Daniel flew away, Vlad, a nasty sense of impending doom in the pit of his stomach, for once in his life hoped that Danny – the Danny he knew; his nemesis, Danny – would win this one.


	3. Chapter 3

When Danny called Tucker up that night, to tell him, essentially, to take a hike the following day, Tucker had less than no problem with it. He simply made a few kissy noises ("yeah, real mature, Tucker," said Danny), said it didn't matter, he had plans anyway. He was awfully mysterious about it, as if trying to make Danny ask what was going on. Danny didn't ask – he guessed, and got it right on the first try.

"You're going to ask Valerie out, aren't you?"

There was a moment of bewildered silence, before Tucker said , "Damn, man! When did you get mind reading powers?"

In truth, though Danny didn't know it, Valerie had developed a hunch as to the real identity of Danny Phantom, and had since both weaned herself off (at least a bit) of toasting Danny (Phantom), if only by subconscious decision, and had also subconsciously weaned off attempting to court Danny (Fenton) (when the four became friends, the flirting became far more obvious, even if it was rare), and she and Tucker seemed to be getting along quite well lately. Danny supposed there was even a chance she would say yes. He told Tucker so, and that was all the encouragement he needed.

"Thanks Danny. Gotta go, bye!" and quick as that, he was gone.

Jazz seemed to know to keep her distance, and would be out until five thirty. Danny had wanted to prepare a picnic, before his hopeless romantic side was overruled by the common sense notion of "fifty degrees out – not good picnic weather," and was now stuck between abject panic ('Wheretogowheretogowheretogo!' being his thoughts, as he paced frantically), and daydreaming about Sam (dazzling smile, eyes like the moon, the works). About an hour before she was supposed to be there, he came up with the idea. He packed their lunch, and went downstairs to test his theory. When she arrived, he brought her down to the Fenton portal.

"Okay, here we are!"

"The basement…it's…well, I've kind of been here about a hundred times, and, to risk a pun, it's no picnic."

He smiled at her joke, and went over to the Fenton portal controls, guiding her by the hand, saying nothing.

"Danny, your not serious, are you?"

He nodded serenely, and released his power into the portal gate. The gateway changed from a swirling green to match the sky blue of his eyes. Before Sam could ask any more questions, Danny pulled her through the portal, and into a world of warmth and beauty beyond parallel, with her own beauty in Danny's eyes being the only exception to the rule.

When she opened her eyes, Sam found herself warm in the sunlight of a summer afternoon. It was neither too hot, nor cool. It was just that weather that fit perfectly. It was walk down the beach with a summer breeze propelling you forward weather. And as she examined her surroundings, she saw that the sun was taking a holiday. In the stead of sunlight, there was an overwhelming sense of rightness. There were no birds twittering, yet an odd sort of ethereal music hung in the air, just beyond earshot. Forgetting the boy beside her for the moment, she walked on, in wonder and awe of the place. Here was a field of flowers in full bloom, there, a footbridge surrounded on two sides by bamboo, the stream that came down under the bridge coming to a delightfully tranquil little waterfall. After crossing the bridge, she walked on to a field of wildflowers, where a pleasant spot was laid out for a blanket, perfect for picnicking. She turned, and saw Danny's tranquil smile, and hugged him.

"Danny… it's so beautiful here." Then her curious mind went back to work. "Where is here, by the way?"

His smile never faltered, and he said, "This is my world. Just between here, and there, the human world, and the ghost zone. As far as I can tell, it's a piece of my mind. When I was younger, and my parents would leave me with jazz, to go ghost hunting, I would read a book, and find my mind here. Now that I'm half ghost, I guess this place manifested as an escape, when things went too rough. I found it, when I disappeared last summer… to learn to control the touch."

"But I thought you said you found a forest, and stayed there?"

"I'm sorry I lied to you, it's just that I thought this was the kind of secret place you didn't show people, and also, I didn't know If I'd be able to return until I tested it a few minutes before you came, so for my own sake, I figured I should try to forget about it."

"How long can we stay?"

He knew what she meant. Going here himself was no problem, although after two days in ghost mode, he started to feel the strain when trying to return to human form, and was thrust out of paradise, to go find food. With Sam here, the strain might be harder. He shrugged it off though.

"I wore out my welcome after two days. Having another living person here should cut that in half, as far as my intuition says, so a few hours shouldn't be much trouble."

His carefree attitude was contagious. It was good to see him like this – unafraid, untroubled, and she felt the same. They sat, and ate their meal amongst the flowers, (this reminded both of them of a song called "Tiptoe Through the Tulips", which, as a rule, must be sung in an absurd falsetto by a man with a big nose, and they burst out laughing at the same moment, having said not a word on the topic) When they were finished, they had one of those awkward moments during the cleanup, one's hand going for the plates, the other's falling into place on top, but the awkwardness, in such a place, was impossible. Here, it was just too damn comfortable to be awkward. It was sort of like eating a tub of iced cream with a friend who is doing likewise. The pounds afterward don't matter, as long as one savors the moment. They looked into each other's eyes, and as their eyes drew each other's in, their heads subconsciously closed the distance, until they could feel each other's steady breath on their faces. The odd thing being, Danny's breath was cold. As it rose before there eyes, they saw the blue mist of his ghost sense. Danny, for the sake of the moment tried to dismiss it, but it brought them both back to the real world a bit. At least some of the awkwardness had returned, and they couldn't go through with the moment. Besides, Danny wasn't finished showing her around. He got up.

"We're not finished here. There's more to see, you know."

She smiled serenely. That just seemed like the best kind of smile, given the situation. "Show me."

Danny went ghost, and the world was enveloped in a beautiful twilight atmosphere. He lifted her up, and they flew.

They landed at the entrance to a small Shinto style Japanese pagoda. Danny took her to the small porch like structure that surrounded it, and there they sat, without speaking. There was no need for words. This was the psychic connection everyone said they shared. It was more of an emotional connection, but it served an equal purpose. When their minds were at ease, their thoughts flowed freely between them. They stayed for another hour. When the hour was up, Danny opened the portal back to their world, and they stepped through.

'finally.'

As soon as they were through, the overwhelming force of Danny's ghost sense hit him. This time, it was paralyzing. The feeling of icy cold was beyond ice. It was death. When he went down, Sam screamed, and that was the last thing he heard before he slipped into unconsciousness. Upon awaking, even with his cold-numbed senses and dulled and fuzzy mind, he cried out for her.

"Sam!" He had to know she was safe. Whatever it was that had knocked him out was almost certainly very powerful, and very evil.

"She's safe, for now."

The voice was fitting. As cold as were his surroundings. As his vision cleared, he attempted to get up, and look around, but the cold had seeped through his bones, and he was still unable to move.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Sam!"

This time, he went ghost, hoping the ethereal state would hold him against the cold. He was right. The ghost in him was immune to this cold, and, in spite of still feeling like he was frozen, he could move. As he rose, he found he was standing inside the pagoda within the portal of his mind, and yet, he was not. This place was dark, and unwelcoming.

"Where am I? This can't be my mind. This place feels evil, and I'm the good guy, so this can't be my mind." 'Right?' he thought.

"Oh, but it is, Danny. And you are."

As he spoke, the being that had brought him here stepped out of the shadows. Danny was face to face with an older, far more evil version of himself. Nonetheless, the obvious question with the even more obvious answer rolled off his tongue.

"Wh-who are you?"

"Danny, Danny, Danny. Cant even recognize yourself, can you?"

"Y-you're me? No. you can't be me!"

Dan leaned forward, until his slightly taller frame met the height of his younger self's. Their eyes met. Death ice blue, with glowing neon green, and fearful.

"Doubt it not, Danny. I am you, and though you are not yet me, that is only a temporary dilemma."

Danny suddenly remembered something Yoda had said in one of the new Star Wars movies. "Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to the dark side." The foreboding sentiment coming from the little green man in his head helped him lighten his fear with a little humor, and he was able to steel himself against his terror. He regained his confident air, and rose in stature from cowering to his full height.

"And what if I don't want to be you?"

Dan leaned back on his haunches, and laughed outright. It was a cold, dead sound, and it did everything to add to the current atmosfear. (A/N I misspelled that on purpose...yeah, I wouldn't recommend doing that. While quite amusing, it seems amateur-ish...)

"You don't have a choice. Look around you. This place is as much yours as it is mine, yet I control what goes on here. You are powerless. When what comes to pass occurs, you will be powerless then, as well."

The steel in Danny became molten, as he became angry. This being, whether it was him, or not, was here to do harm, and he wouldn't allow that. His eyes glowing so hotly there seemed to be gold in the green orbs, he expanded his ghostly aura, and forced all of his energy outwards. Two rings spiraled about him, and then expanded, to reach the borders of the pagoda, and exploded outwards, destroying the walls. As the rings sped out in all directions, the air became summer, the night flowers bloomed, and the world was warm once more. Dan was astonished for a second only. He then chuckled, held out a hand, and turned it over. The cold spread from him, and overtook the rings in seconds, destroying the warm calm.

"That was impressive, Danny, but, am I right that it expended all of your energy?"

Danny answered by collapsing to the ground.

"Tsk tsk. We can't have you stuck in here, now can we? That would never allow for you to become me."

At the same moment, Dan wondered if his tampering in the time stream might even prevent his creation altogether. He looked down at one icy hand to reassure himself. It was still there, so he had nothing to fear.

"NO!" Danny awoke to the warmth with a painful shock. He was in his room, and he was human. He wasted no time once he got his senses back. He called Sam. When she picked up, he sighed with relief.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, Danny. But why are you wasting your minutes? I'm right downstairs with Jazz."

He rushed downstairs, saw her, and hugged her.

"I am so glad you're okay. When that ghost came, I tried to fight him, but he was me, with all my ghost powers, just a whole lot stronger, and I didn't stand a chance."

"Danny, what ghost? I passed out just after you did, and I didn't see any ghost. Jazz found us when she got home, and brought us upstairs to your room. That was an hour ago."

Jazz, realizing that now clearly wasn't a good time for them to discover that she knew Danny's secret, left the room.

"Sam, I know this sounds strange, but when I passed out, I awoke back inside the portal, except the place was cold, and desolate, and then, I saw myself, but it wasn't me! It was evil, and dark. I tried to set things right, to put things like they were when we were in there, like in summer, but he just pushed things back to winter, and I – "

He was cut off, as she hugged him. This was what she had feared. He would lose himself, and she would lose him for it.

"Danny… it's ok. You don't have to go down that path. You don't have to be that person. You're a hero – my hero. You don't have to leave that behind. You don't have to let that cold take you."

Danny slowly wrapped his arms around her. He wasn't sure if she understood what he meant or not, but she was right. He didn't have to become that person. The evil he had faced, no matter that he lost against it before, he would overcome it, this time. With her help, he could overcome anything. He closed his eyes, and embraced the inner calm she gave him. Both of them, lost in each other's embrace, hardly registered the warm, gentle breeze that surrounded them – the shining white rings that surrounded them. Jazz, however, who decided to check up on them did see the rings, and was filled with a sense of calm and inner peace. She could do nothing but smile, as Danny's typical ghost form came over him, still in Sam's embrace. When they opened their eyes, Sam found herself staring into a pair of glowing azure orbs. They closely resembled Danny's, but the peaceful confidence of his ghost realm resonated from within them.

"Danny, your eyes, their different. What happened?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Huh?"

"Go look in a mirror."

Without missing a beat, Danny floated up, still holding her, phased through the ceiling, and into the bathroom. When he looked into the mirror, he totally lost the calm he had formerly felt.

"No… its him! I'm becoming him!"

"Danny?"

He stepped away from her. "You have to keep away, Sam. This is what his eyes were like… only colder. I'm becoming my future self. You have to keep away… keep safe."

He had backed himself into a corner, now.

"Danny! Look in the mirror again."

He didn't want to look again, but the tone of urgency in her voice led him to look anyway. when he did, his eyes were back to their normal glowing green. It did little to assuage his feeling of fear. But he put on a good face for Sam. Sam, his shield, – here we go again – his friend, his protector. When he turned to her again, his eyes had turned blue again. Sam said as much. He looked again, this time in time to watch as his fear turned his eyes back from blue to green. As he stood there, Sam put a hand on his shoulder.

"Danny, I don't think it's the same. I think whatever is happening to you must be some different transformation, which means you're not turning into that evil."

"At least not yet, you mean."

Sam sighed in frustration. He could be so stubborn sometimes.

"What were you thinking about when you changed?"

A moment of dumb silence.

Danny was thinking of her, to be honest, and how she made him feel, but he wasn't about to tell her that. He composed his thoughts, but took a little too long to do so, looking rather agitated as he did, so Sam automatically knew something was up. It only served to make matters worse when Danny did open his mouth, and stammered out a totally incomprehensible response.

She cut him off halfway through the babble, and said "Was it a positive thought, or a negative one?"

"Positive."

"And when you did it the second time, how about then?"

He thought for a moment, then gave the thumbs up sign.

She dragged him by his shoulder over to the mirror. "Now, think exactly as you did when the transformation happened."

"Sam, I –"

"Just do it, Danny."

He first thought about good things, other than Sam. He had an odd aversion to finding out he was in love, and therefore avoided the topic, and instead thought of flowers, in alphabetical order. He got to L for Lilac, before he lost it. All he could now think of was the undeniably purple smell of lilacs, and how Sam's hair had that scent. He lost track of the mirror, shaking his head to try and clear his mind, and when he looked, he found his eyes glowing blue again. A closer look led him to a conclusion.

"These aren't His eyes. His were cold, and ugly, like an ugliness of the soul. These may not be green, but they're definitely my eyes. It must be some sort of new power, I guess."

And he knew it was. The longer he stayed that way, the better he felt, the more comfortable in that form. Relief passed over him, and he turned to Sam with a smile.

"If this is a new power, why don't we test out what it can do?"

Sam nodded, relief that he was okay and she was right flooding her, as well. With a speed that was uncanny, even for him, Danny swept her up, and they were outside the house in seconds.

Dan observed all this with a sense of agitation. This was not the way his past played out. Clearly his interference had caused a slip in the time stream. No matter. This even had potential to worsen the situation for Danny, and make Dan even stronger. If, that was, Danny's strength didn't surpass his future self's. Ah, well. Once more, he'd cross that bridge later. As Dan flew off, determined to observe his past self and the object of his past self's affection, (this being the point where Danny might correct himself, saying Sam was no object to be owned, but this was Danny no longer. This was darkness, and darkness could care less), he was unaware that the two were under observation from yet another ghostly source.


	4. Chapter 4

They flew. They flew at speeds unknown even to Danny. If he was asked, he would probably estimate that his speed had increased at least half again. As to his awareness, the world seemed to be going by at a passable speed, as if his comprehension at higher velocities had improved. His reflexes were sharper, his eyesight keener. He felt no great increase in strength, but his mind soared with clear thinking. He landed with Sam in the park part of Amity Park, and, though neither of them would ever realize it, he had landed them directly on the site of their first fakeout makeout. Danny set Sam down, and stepped away. They tested some of his new powers. His ectoplasm blasts were infinitely faster, but not more powerful. Curious, Danny tried that elusive power, replication, and finally mastered it, with a triumphant yell. When he tried to summon up a large ectoplasm blast, however, it failed, and stuck to his hands. He managed to get one hand free with a tremendous tug, and, when attempting to free the other, he arced an immense downward swing. What came of it was the formation of a glowing blue ectoplasmic katana. He had time for a single practice swing before the flash of fangs, fur, and claws attacked him.

He had been waiting outside the home of Danny Fenton, respectful of his friend's ghost shield, for close to an hour now. He had seen the dark future version of Danny enter, and now, Wulf watched carefully for the demon to reemerge. When, instead, it was Danny and Sam who came back out, he found himself even more concerned. Ever since he had surfaced from the hole Wulf himself had torn in the timestream, Wulf had watched, waiting for the right opportunity to strike. What was odd was that Danny didn't seem quite right, and Wulf had an idea that it was because it wasn't the real Danny. He just seemed to be able to move too fast, and, although Wulf was colorblind, and also too far away to see Danny's eyes, he had an idea that if someone with color vision were to look, they'd be frozen by a piercing icy glare. Mind you, he hadn't seen this Danny in a full ten years, so he could be wrong, but as long as there was no visible trouble coming from the other, future Danny, he supposed he should follow this one. He looked on as Danny got to the park, fired a few ectoplasm blasts, but they were too fast and small for Wulf to accurately identify. 'Damn my colorblindness!' he thought. It didn't help that in their last battle, Dan had destroyed the eyesight in his right eye, leaving nothing much besides scar tissue where the eye once was. When he saw the ectoplasm sword come out, he knew. Danny couldn't have developed that power in less than a year. That was the older, dark future Danny, most likely overshadowing the younger. So, with confidence that he had found his moment of vulnerability, Wulf struck.

As the first claw bit into his side, Danny only glimpsed his attacker, before the pain knocked him breathless. Nonetheless, he fought, and his speed came in handy, as did the sword. He got his bearings as quickly as possible, and phased through the ground. He appeared behind the assailant, only to find that was an old friend.

"Wulf?"

As the hulking canine turned, the bloodlust went out of his eyes. Danny was different, yes, but not the dark entity he had been expecting. The phase wound that had been meant to remove Dan from overshadowing Danny, had only succeeded in seriously wounding the younger Danny. Also, when Danny spoke, his voice rang with a kind of compassionate power that no normal teenager, half ghost teenager, or evil super ghost should possess. Especially not an evil super ghost. Therefore, Wulf assumed it must be the real Danny he had just wounded. Danny heaved a labored breath, and passed out, reverting back to his human form on the floor. Wulf rushed forth, and was batted away by a terrified looking Sam.

"No! Get away from him!"

Wulf sheathed his claws, saying "My apologies lady, but the boy is in severe danger of dying of ghost inflicted wounds. No normal doctor would be able to help him. He must see the eighth sage, and I am the only one near enough who knows the way. This is a case of mistaken identity on my part. Danny phantom helped me once, and now I must return the favor. Either you can help, or you are an obstacle."

Wulf's English was not broken, but he carried a heavy accent. Nonetheless, Sam interpreted him correctly. He saw in her eyes the reflected compassion, and even a love, from the unconscious ghost child. Sam nodded slowly, and Wulf wasted no time in picking them both up, tearing a hole into a rather desolate looking version of the ghost zone, and stepping through.

After several long minutes of silence, Sam got over her shock enough to ask a question. "Why is it that you speak English, now? You didn't the last time we met."

"A lot can happen in ten years."

"Ten years? But we saw you get sucked into the Fenton bazooka portal less than a year ago."

Wulf turned, and Sam noticed he was now nearly blind in his right eye, due to what looked like a battle wound.

"It is a very long story. I would prefer to have to tell it only once."

He motioned with his head towards the unconscious Danny. They flew the rest of the way in a tense silence. What they eventually came to was a large castle like structure.

"This is the fright knight's lair! Why are you taking us here?"

"Here, there was once a king, as there was once a knight, but now, there is only the wizard."

He entered with no trouble, which was surprising, even if the castle looked run down beyond belief. They descended into the deepest dungeons of the place, and emerged on the other side of a large moat. Behind the fright knight's castle, there was a small hut. A line of smoke came out of the hole in the ceiling. When they came closer, a voice echoed from within.

"Why have you brought Him here, Wulf?" a cloaked and hooded figure emerged from the hut, a large wizardish staff in hand. Eyes glowed red from beneath his hood.

"All seeing, as usual, Octavian. He is badly wounded, and the last hope for the future lies with him. I wounded him myself, thinking he was his future self. Now, I must beg your aid once more."

The figure, apparently called Octavian, stepped forward once more, and his face became visible. He was pale gray-blue in pallor, and as old, it seemed, as time itself. He was indeed old, but it was his eyes that gave the impression of timelessness. They had the look of eyes that once held great mirth, but in ages gone past, that mirth had died. Red though they were, the eyes held more wisdom than malice. His cloak was deep purple, clasped at the left above the heart, with a moon and star symbol. He lifted his staff, and the cloak fell back a bit, revealing black gloves, bound with strips of gray leather, and a white outfit, that ended at the waist, which is where he ended as well. He wore a long beard, that came to the waist as well, and any remnants of a body past that point was replaced by a blue smoke trail. His staff, made of some nondescript gray metal, held a light violet orb at the end that swirled with white lightning.

He sighed. "Come inside. I will reject your request in the comfort of my own home, and not before hearing your tale."

Wulf set Sam down, and carried Danny inside. Sam followed.

"Now then. What–"

Sam cut the ancient ghost off. "I'm sorry, but Danny… he doesn't look good. Couldn't you help him and then hear our tale?"

The ghost smiled, but it did nothing to grace his features with the earlier mentioned mirth. Instead, it was a bitter thing. "Girl, I am the last of my kind; the eighth ghost sage of the nine ghost sages. The greatest healers and keepers of knowledge the ghost zone possesses, or, rather, possessed. The boy you seem to care so much for, is the cause of it, as well as the cause of the destruction of the human realm, and you as well, more likely than not."

"Danny would never do that!"

The old sage leaned forward, until his glowing red eyes were less than two inches from her face. "Tell me, girl. Has he done anything strange, lately, shied away from his friends? Gained any strange new powers?"

Sam paused, in terror, but shook her head anyway. She wouldn't let Danny down. Wouldn't let him die. Not for anything.

The 8th sage leaned back, and said "you have a strong spirit, Samantha, and a great devotion to your friend. Or perhaps, is he more than that, to you?"

He eyed her suspiciously, but then shook his head.

"No matter. For the devotion, loyalty and caring you have shown, I shall keep death at bay within him, long enough for you to tell your tale, and hear ours, at least."

They took seats surrounding the green fire in the center of the small hut, and Danny was laid out beside the 8th sage.

When they sat, the sage spoke. "Allow me to begin by introducing myself, and giving you all a warning. I am Octavian, the eighth sage of the ghost zone. We sages, when there were still more than one of us, were known for our great healing power. However, it only works on ghosts, and does great harm to humans, therefore, I am unsure what my power will do to the boy." He began to undo the clasps on his right glove. "Also, I advise those of you who do not require healing to not look directly at my hand, when I remove it from this glove. The power I possess can even blind those who are not able to see it."

As he undid the final clasp, Sam was struck with a sense of undeniable destiny. When he removed the glove, she looked directly at the hand below it. In the brief glimpse she got before being blinded by pale green light, there was, however, no hand, merely ethereal skeletal claws. When the light cleared, she saw that the hand was on Danny's wounded chest, and the sage was looking directly at her.

"You have looked at the healing hand of death, and not been blinded. The tenth place is fulfilled. Perhaps it is I who should begin the tale.

"At the dawn of human sciences, when man was leaving the magics of the world behind, there existed nine Celtic druids; men of mysticism and power. When it came the time for the first among the nine to die, they devised a plan. They would hold fast their consciousnesses, even after death. Most ghosts, as many paranormal scientists would claim, are not the humans from which they were born, but the reconstituted fragments of that human's last wish. Often, they dwell because they lack the knowledge to ascend to the higher plain – the memory of who they were, and their reason for ascension. These nine, however, were among the gifted few with knowledge and power enough to become true spirits, and chose, willingly, to dwell here, observing all, so that they might learn truth, and earn enlightenment. I am the last of these nine. Because we have purpose, we are not the malevolent spirits that many of ghostkind have become. We each were granted several powers, because of this, besides immortality in death, we were given a certain prescience, or futuresight, and great healing powers. When the last of us died, we made a pact that bound our knowledge together, in the event of the disaster that has just recently occurred. Ghosts, you must understand, can be killed, or die by their own will. Those that die willfully, are those that find the understanding needed to ascend to the heavens. Those that are killed, however, are rarely so fortunate. They pass into the void that lies outside of existence, where there lies nothing but endless torment, and loneliness. The other eight sages have thus passed into the void; murdered by this boy's dark older self. Due to our pact, though, their collective knowledge was passed to me, and I now have the strength and wisdom of all nine sages. Which brings us to Wulf's part of the tale."

Wulf straightened in his seat. "I am, or rather, was, once a man of science. A protégé of Einstein, in fact. It was just about the time that he developed his theory of relativity, that I was bitten, by a wolf. It was no ordinary wolf, however. I had, in my time, dabbled slightly in the paranormal, and discovered, all too late I might add, that it was a werewolf that had bitten me. When the silver bullet finally caught up to me, I had killed several people already, while by day I had no memory of my nighttime hunt, and was doing a seminar on Esperanto, which I had learned several years prior. Upon my death, I was mid transformation, and in death, so I remained – humanoid wolf. I would assume my changing state in life enabled me to pass between worlds, but I was still a feral creature in mind, only bare shards of my human side surfaced over the years, shards such as my ability to speak Esperanto. Until, finally, I met the boy; Danny – my friend. He showed me kindness, and awakened my dormant, but strangely in tact human mind. It was the day I arrived in the ghost zone, not a year ago by your time, that I attempted to escape. But, due to the unconventional method by which I was sent back to the ghost zone, my powers were changed, and when I tore my hole in dimension space, I tore it through time, as well, and was flung ten years into the future of the human realm. Seeing the desolation there, I was unsure what had happened, and decided it would be safer to wait back in the ghost zone. I returned to the ghost zone, and it looked the Same. I went back to the human realm several times, and eventually discovered that I was traveling not only through space, but time as well. On the final occasion that I went through, I discovered the source of the evil that had wracked your world ten years in the future. It was the very Same ghost child, now grown, that destroyed it all. When I returned to the past ghost zone, I devised a theory, and with it, a plan. The theory was that, because I was returned to the ghost zone from the human world by unconventional methods, my powers were modified, and by passing between worlds, I would be sent through time ten years, either backwards or forwards." He drew a diagram in the spectral dirt with his claw:

Human Past Human Future

Ghost Past Ghost future

"This line," he traced the line between ghost past and human past,

"Is the path my powers took prior to being sent to the ghost zone via portable ghost portal. It modified my abilities, sending me instead" he erased the original line he had made, and drew a new one, connecting the ghost past with the human future.

"this is how my powers then worked. I theorized that, if I waited ten years in my own world," he erased the new line, replacing it with one that linked the ghost past and ghost future.

"My powers would work in the opposite direction, like so;" he erased the final line, replacing it with one connecting human past with ghost future.

"For that reason, I waited, in hopes that I could right the wrongs of that future human realm, by finding its cause. Just when I was preparing the portal, however, I was attacked by the very being I hoped to prevent. I was badly wounded, and when I awoke, I was here. After Octavian healed me, I learned of his tale, and his purpose, and I then rushed off to open my portal, hoping I was not too late. I am thankful that I arrived in time to warn the ghost boy, because I realize now that Danny is the only one with the power to defeat his older self. Unfortunately, it is my carelessness that allowed the demon that is his future to come to the past. He found my portal, and used it to go to the past. When I discovered this, I went hunting, hoping I could catch him off guard, but, instead, I attacked my friend." Wulf turned to look at Danny, carefully avoiding looking directly at the 8th sage's hand. "Please, forgive me, my friend. I am sorry I have harmed you."

when the tale was finished, the eighth sage rose, and replaced his glove. He nodded to himself, and said "now, I already know your tale, thus far, and you know mine. This boy's older self has murdered my brethren, and he is too strong for anyone to defeat." He took up his staff, and the orb atop it glowed. A beam of ectoplasmic energy formed itself into the blade of a scythe at its top.

"at this point, I ask only that if you value the boy's life, that you give me an extremely valid reason why I shouldn't end his life here and now, and in doing so, end this horrid chain of events."

Sam gasped, and sought words that would allow her to save Danny, but her shock prevented her from doing so. Wulf spoke in her stead. "we do not yet know the reason for his becoming evil. For all we know, it could be an untimely human death. He could be cast into the abyss, only to return via his hybrid nature, as the dark entity of this time. Also, if you kill him now, you could cause a temporal paradox, he dying in a future that will cease to exist in his death, could result in a collapse of the space time continuum." The elderly ghost shook his head.

"not good enough, I am sorry to say."

He raised the scythe. Danny was not stirring. He brought the scythe down in an arc. The scythe was less than an inch from Danny's neck, when another Danny, a split off using Danny's ghost powers appeared behind Octavian, staying his hand by a grasp to his shoulder. The sage noted that despite the trembling of the copy's form, his grip was firm, his eyes determined. "I…heard the tales. Now, I would know… what it is you aren't telling us… is that '_cough' _reason enough?" the copy dissolved, and the remaining Danny, sitting up, and trembling in pain. "even if I am to die… I would know… the reason."

_He who fights his dark destiny with his life, and is willing to give all to change it, and she who sees the light of wisdom and is not blinded, will have a chance to avert apocalypse. _

Octavian suddenly remembered the last words of the ninth sage – the only one he was close with, namely because it was his older brother in life, and also the only one to survive the first year of darkness after Danny phantom turned down the path of shadows. Under the advisory of those words, he would spare the boy, and he would heal him.

"rest boy. For now, your life is not forfeit. I will heal you. Then, I will tell you, and you alone, the truth that I cannot speak in front of these others."


End file.
